Ford Motor Comp.'s (F) German robotics engineers are seldom idle. While the company's assembly robots are generally robust, quite often an ailing automaton will pop up at a plant.

The automaker has 980 robots at its various German plants, including the manufacturing facility in Niehl, Cologne, Germany. These robots are responsible for producing around 1,600 cars a day and are working non-stop 24 hours a day.

In its new video Ford introduces viewers to engineer and "robot doctor" Gerd Zech. Mr. Zech muses, "Every day is a new challenge with new problems to be solved. In emergencies, for example when an assembly line stands still because of a defective robot, we all march out. Then we are the 'production’s emergency service'."